This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-15115, filed Mar. 20, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waste toner collecting apparatus of an electrophotographic image forming device, and more particularly, to a waste toner collecting apparatus of an electrophotographic image forming device which collects waste toner into an inside of a photoreceptive drum.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an electrophotographic image forming device is a printing apparatus for forming an electrostatic latent image corresponding to a desired image by scanning a light beam onto a photoreceptive body and developing the electrostatic latent image using toner of a predetermined color to print a developed image on a sheet of paper.
FIG. 1 schematically shows a structure of a conventional electrophotographic color image forming device. Referring to FIG. 1, the image forming device includes a photoreceptive drum 10 that is a photoreceptive body, a charger 11 charging a surface of the photoreceptive drum 10 to a predetermined voltage, a laser scanning unit (LSU) 12 forming an electrostatic latent image corresponding to a desired image by scanning a light beam onto the charged surface of the photoreceptive drum 10, a development unit 13 developing the electrostatic latent image using toner of four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K), a transfer belt 14 receiving the developed image from the photoreceptive drum 10 and transferring the received image to a sheet of paper, a cleaning blade 21 removing waste toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptive drum 10 after the image is transferred to the transfer belt 14, and a waste toner container 25 containing the removed waste toner. The image forming device further includes a discharger 18 and a path 19 along which the paper proceeds.
In the above-described structure, after the photoreceptive drum 10 is charged by the charger 11 to the predetermined voltage, the electrostatic latent image corresponding to the desired image is formed by scanning the light beam from the LSU 12 onto the charged surface of the photoreceptive drum 10. Next, the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptive drum 10 is developed using toner of four colors supplied from a yellow developing unit 13a, a magenta developing unit 13b, a cyan developing unit 13c, and a black developing unit 13d. The developed images are transferred to the transfer belt 14 to overlap with one another to form a color image printed on the sheet of the paper.
In the meantime, the waste toner not transferred to the transfer belt 14 and remaining on the surface of the photoreceptive drum 10 is removed from the surface of the photoreceptive drum 10 by the cleaning blade 21. The removed waste toner is accumulated in the waste toner container 25.
In the electrophotographic image forming device, since the waste toner container is installed outside the photoreceptive drum, the device is difficult to be made compact. Also, since an inlet of the waste toner container is always in an open state, dust can be generated.
To solve the above and the other problems, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a waste toner collecting apparatus of an electrophotographic image forming device which can collect waste toner into an inside of the photoreceptive drum so that the image forming device can be made compact.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
To achieve an aspect of the invention, a waste toner collecting apparatus of an electrophotographic image forming device includes a photoreceptive drum having a first slit formed at an outer circumferential surface thereof in a lengthwise direction, through which waste toner removed from the outer circumferential surface of the photoreceptive drum by a cleaning blade contacting the outer circumferential surface thereof passes to be contained therein, and a slit opening/shutting unit which selectively opens and shuts the first silt.
It is possible in the present invention that the slit opening/shutting unit opens the first slit formed at the outer circumferential surface of the photoreceptive drum for a predetermined period.
It is possible in the present invention that the slit opening/shutting unit comprises a cylindrical waste toner container which is installed inside the photoreceptive drum to be capable of rotating and has a second slit corresponding to the first slit formed at the outer circumferential surface thereof in a lengthwise direction, and a driving motor rotating the waste toner container.